NOTTINGHAM, England – UFC President Dana White reiterated today that he would like to see Matt Hughes retire, but the Hall of Famer will always have a place with the promotion.

“He’s with us forever, anyway,” White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “Hughes is one of our guys. He’s not going anywhere. He can keep the door open forever.”

Hughes (45-9 MMA, 18-7 UFC) recently opened another can of worms when he posted photos from a hunting trip to Africa, which prompted another round of criticism from UFC on FUEL TV 5 co-headliner Dan Hardy. White said he isn’t stepping in the middle of the spat.

“I’m not into shooting animals, either,” White said. “I’m not a hunter. I’m not into that stuff at all. But if that’s what you’re into …”

Hardy, a frequent critic of Hughes, again took aim at the former welterweight champ for displaying photos of himself next to dead animals.

“I don’t really understand how you fly out to Africa, look out on the savannah, look at those animals and go ‘You know, I want to kill that,'” Hardy told Fighters Only. “I can’t make sense of that in my head. For someone who’s a self-proclaimed good-guy Christian, it just doesn’t calculate. He’s getting his morals mixed up somewhere. He really needs to have a look at himself and question what he’s doing.”

While a guest commentator on “UFC Tonight,” Hughes, who in August 2010 was inducted to the Hall of Fame, scoffed at a challenge from Hardy and pointed out the fighter’s then-loss streak of four fights. (Hardy snapped the skid in May with a knockout of Duane Ludwig.)

Hughes, of course, remains unbooked following his most recent fight, which came at UFC 135 and ended in a knockout at the hands of Josh Koscheck. From the looks of it, he’ll have plenty of time to hunt and aggravate Hardy.

For the latest on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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